The Golden State Warriors made it clear that they intend to go all-in on a veteran core alongside Stephen Curry and company next season when they traded away Jordan Poole, the 24-year old combo guard, for Chris Paul, the 38-year old veteran. Then came the Dubs' free agency moves, which put it beyond reasonable doubt that the team is hoping that the team's collective basketball IQ and experience makes up for the team's waning athleticism.
All in all, the Warriors, in addition to re-signing Draymond Green to a four-year, $100 million deal in free agency, also added Cory Joseph and Dario Saric, two players who should flourish in the Dubs' ecosystem thanks to their skillsets. The team also signed rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis to a four-year deal, the last two seasons of which are non-guaranteed.
But let's take a deeper look at how the Warriors fared with their moves in free agency by grading every one of their signings.
Warriors free agency grades
Re-signing Draymond Green to a four-year, $100 million deal: A
There's not a lot that hasn't been said yet about Draymond Green's importance to the Warriors' chances of competing for the 2024 NBA championship. Green may be 33 years old, and he's clearly in athletic decline, but his skillset allows him to fill a role on the team that perhaps only he can around the league.
Green plays sweet string music on offense with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. The mind-meld of those three are in full display whenever the Dubs run dribble handoff, or their patented low-post split action, or even simple pindowns or curls off of screens. Green almost always finds the open man.
And then there's the matter of defense. Despite standing at just 6'6, Draymond Green's defensive versatility is hard to match. Green guards anyone, from the LeBron Jameses or Anthony Davises of the world. His ability to communicate on defense and his sublime positioning make him an invaluable pillar for the Warriors — a marriage of two parties who will be worse off without each other.
The only drawback of Green's contract is that it could run until the Warriors veteran is 37 years old. Will Green age well? Only time will tell. But in the interim, bringing back the team's heart and soul was a must with the goal of competing for a championship next season in mind.
Signing Cory Joseph to the veteran minimum: A-
Cory Joseph has been through some lackluster playing situations over the past few years that he's basically become a forgotten man. For the past four seasons, Joseph has toiled away on some terrible Sacramento Kings and Detroit Pistons teams, filling whatever role they need even as he finds himself relegated to the fringes by the young guards those teams are trying to develop.
However, Joseph has been a quality player for all of those years — a heady conductor of the offense every time he was on the court. Since the 2019-20 season, he has averaged 7.3 points and 3.5 assists in just 23 minutes a night — imagine just how many more assists he could have playing alongside more talented shot-makers in Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Andrew Wiggins?
With Chris Paul in town, Joseph could also find himself playing an off-ball role as a secondary playmaker. But Joseph can space the floor as well, averaging 37.6 percent from deep since moving to Sacramento in 2019. And to top it all off, despite being in the league since 2011, Joseph is just 31 years old, so it's not like he's that geriatric of a player.
For the veteran minimum, the Warriors brought in one of the more underrated players in free agency. Joseph should be well worth the addition.
Signing Dario Saric to the veteran minimum: A
The Warriors fanbase has been crying out loud for the addition of a huge warm body to add to the team's depth in the frontcourt. And in recent days, they got it in the form of Dario Saric, a player who's looking to round back into form after tearing his ACL during the 2021 NBA Finals.
Saric looked demonstrably slower last season, and even with the Phoenix Suns' injury woes, he failed to earn a featured spot in their rotation. Following his trade to the Oklahoma City Thunder, however, Saric picked up his play, with his scoring efficiency skyrocketing to end the season.
Nevertheless, what makes Dario Saric such a good addition, especially for the Warriors, is that he fits the bill out of what the team wants out of a bench big. Saric can shoot threes (he made 45 out of his 115 three-point attempts last season), so he should be a solid alternative to Kevon Looney. Moreover, he can run dribble handoffs and act as a secondary playmaking hub on the high post. His chemistry with Chris Paul back in their Suns playing days should only help matters.
Saric is another year removed from his injury as well, so he may be in for a huge bounce-back campaign. And the Warriors, for the veteran minimum, could be reaping the rewards of such a low-risk free agency punt.
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